Pre-K Convening

In January 2024, NYSCI hosted an in-person convening with project partners from the Mosaic Pre-K Center network and the NYC Department of Education to establish a research agenda to guide future work. 

At the convening, Mosaic and DOE staff joined NYSCI educators and researchers in:

• An interactive poster session summarizing multiple facets of ongoing work with Mosaic Pre-K centers and local families

• Small group discussions to identifying the strengths different partners and stakeholders bring, the needs that currently exist with pre-K centers and for families within the district, and challenges that NYSCI and the pre-K centers might work together to address.

• A group brainstorming session to co-develop goals for strengthening, scaling, and measuring the impact of the partnership. 

Priorities that emerged throughout the discussions at the convening were: 

1. The need for support networks (virtual or in-person) to support ongoing professional learning and well-being for pre-K educators

2. A desire to bring the STEAM stories approach and PD model to more Mosaic Pre-K centers and connect these approaches to other grade levels and to the kinds of STEAM activities families can do at home.

3. Increasing access to the museum for local families, particularly those with young children

4. Identifying multiple sources of data that might reveal potential outcomes of NYSCI's approach on children as they continue into kindergarten

In future projects, we hope to further develop these new avenues for fostering early STEM learning within the local community with ongoing input from stakeholders across the partnership.

View the posters presented at the convening